Lets Eliminate the Ancient On-Going Trend of Child Labor

It is a desirable goal the fact remains that in the given socio-economic scenario that is
prevalent in our country, it is virtually impossible to do away with child labor. One cannot
dispute the fact that employers exploit children by paying them much less than what
they would pay to adult and the future of the working children is ruined as they will not
be able to attend schools and get educated for a better future. But when one considers
the economic compulsions of the families which force the children to work, one will be
compelled to admit that elimination of child labor will be a distant dream as long as the
socio-economic status of these families is not improved. Realizing the harm caused by
child labor, the Indian Government made laws to protect children from exploitation at
work and to improve their working condition. Besides, a comprehensive law called Child
Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. 1986, was promulgated to prohibit employment
of children in certain hazardous occupations and processes. Though elimination of child
labor is an impossible task in the current socio-economic scenario, the Indian
government is committed to the task of ensuring that no child remains illiterate, hungry
and without medical care. When this ideal will be achieved? It still remains a million
dollar question.
Sitting at home in a city, we have no idea of the terrible conditions that these children
are made to work in and for more than ten to twelve hours a day. In many cases, these
children are offered by the parents in lieu of a loan that they may have taken from the
factory owner. So its a barter deal; loan in cash that is repaid in kind through the child.
Not all are barter deals. Some work for money where the pay is as little as ten rupees
per day!
There are other situations where children are made to work. These are typically home
run cottage industries like handloom and carpet weaving. This author has personally
visited carpet weaving centers in Bhadohi and Mirzapur, in eastern U.P. and has seen
children working alongside their parents, in virtually all homes lying in interior rural
areas. The typical explanation given by the parents are that they see the child as an
additional resource for income generation.
This is a necessity given the abject poverty prevailing in rural areas and in the absence
of any social security system. People look at raising children as additional manpower,
which further exacerbates the population problem that India is reeling under. Its a
Catch-22 situation! A poor villager cant afford to raise children but continues to produce
them in the hope that they will add to the income while also providing an income
security in his old age. This is one of the primary reasons one sees large families in
rural areas where deep poverty prevails.

High child labor in Gujarat

It is poverty, again, which forces a still younger population into jobs, and this is truer of
Gujarat as compared to elsewhere in India. Thus, in Gujarat, in the two preceding
groups, 10 to 14 years and 15 to 19 years, when children are supposed to study, there
is a much higher incidence of workers. The Census of India figures show that in the
age-group 10 to 14, there are 2.05 lakh main workers in Gujarat which means that
Gujarat has a proportionately higher per cent of child labor in this age group, 3.33 per
cent, this age group (61.49 lakh), than the country as whole. A comparison with the
country as a whole suggests that there are 2.44 per cent of child workers India (32.44
lakh in a population of 13.27 crore).
What is interesting is that all 20 major Indian states, except for Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka, have a lower proportion of child labor than that of Gujarat. While Andhra
Pradesh has four per cent child workers and Karnataka has 3.48 per cent,
Maharahshtra has 3.28 per cent, Punjab 2.59 per cent, West Bengal 2.06 per cent,
Tamil Nadu 183 per cent, Haryana 1.46 per cent, Kerala 0.5 per cent, and so on. The
Census of India figures find things equally alarming for the 15-19 age-group, which
many child rights activists insist should be barred from doing any labor, as it is a school
going age. In this age group, 21 per cent of Gujarats population (12.34 lakh out of
58.66 lakh) are main workers, compared to the all-India average of 14.69 per cent
(1.77 crore out of 12.05 crore).

So what makes a person living in an urban area do this, especially in an age of high
awareness of the laws, active roles played by NGOs, and a hyper active media?
Despite this, we still have people employing children as domestic labor and abusing
them! What has made us so cold and cruel? Why have we allowed our inner conscience
to die? What legacy of morality and ethics do we leave for our children when a childs
first education is supposed to start from home? The very home where another child is
denied his basic fundamental right to education and a life of dignity.
A nation stands on the legs of its society and the citizens that live within it. If we have to
build a nation where the next generation can live with dignity and fairness, where there
is equal opportunity to prosper for all, then we have to ensure that we lay the very core
of that society on a strong foundation i.e. our home.
If there is a child labor happening in our home or in our vicinity, it is our moral right to
raise our voice against it. If we dont, we would lose our moral right to look into our

childrens eyes and expect respect from them. We cannot raise one childs future while
denying another one. No way.

Child labor is a demon which is one of the main factors that is preventing India in
reaching its foremost goal as a developed nation. But there are many families who will
be brought to streets if child labor is totally washed away, so by taking away child labor
we will have to see a lot of beggars in our Indian streets, and so the parents of these
children will have to send them to work even by knowing that they are ruining the childs
future, because it is the only way they can survive. Hence till this poverty of Indian poor
people improves, India will have to see child labor.